Weakest Link in the Chain
by YunaDax
Summary: Set after Reloaded, Trinity is captured by the Twins who have an agenda all their own.


Title - Weakest Link In The Chain

Author - Julesmonster

Rating - R for graphic violence

Disclaimer - they do.. I don't

Summery - Trinity is captured by the Twins for a purpose all their own.

Authors Notes - Well I was dared to write a Trinity angst fic in an afternoon, so here it is. Angsting abounds, violence abounds... if you don't like that stuff, don't go here.

Dedication - to Minka! My buddy in sadistic writing :D This one is for you girl! Besides.. you dared me.

Weakest Link In The Chain

Trinity ran like she'd never run before, her heart pounding in her chest as her feet ate up the distance between her and safety. After Neo was in a coma it was up to her to do the scouting and analyze the changes in the Matrix as they took place. Timing was crucial, somehow the Agents had found out about Neo, and had refocused their attention to her. They must have surmised that without her, Neo was nothing, they had witnessed thus when he had made The Choice, to save her. 

The Agents followed her, firing bullets that always came a little too close for comfort, the a sound she had dreaded reached her ears. She swore loudly as one of the Twins appeared in front of her. Her boots skidded on the ground, her eyes wild and searching for the other Twin, her mind knowing where one was, the other shortly followed. Her hand reached instinctively for her cell phone tucked tightly into the top of her boot, she had refrained from calling for help, she didn't want to endanger the crew, and she also didn't want their faith in her ability to falter now that Neo was somewhat 'unavailable'. The sound much akin to that of a screaming banshee rang in her ears again and her cell phone was roughly pulled from her hand. The second Twin smirked at her startled reaction, using her moment of disorientation to punch her roughly in her midsection. She fought back a cry of pain and retaliated by kicking high at his retreating fist. She caught the arm with her boot and heard a muted snap, a cry of pain, then another shriek at the Twin remorphed himself back into his original form, minus the broken wrist.

" I am afraid you will have to pay for that"

She swore again as the Agents closed in around the Twins, cutting off any course of escape she might have previously had. Slowly she turned, assessing her situation with a frightened yet objective mind, weighing possibilities, judging changes, yet she was met with only one conclusion, they had her trapped.

" I believe we have her"

" I believe so, and what are we do to with her?"

" She stills owes us a scream for the knife incident in the carpark."

" Do you want the pleasure or may I?"

With a direct nod from the Twins the agents seemed to vanish, content that the Twins would correct the anomaly that was Trinity. They would kill her in the Matrix, her body in the Real World would die, and Neo would become a lost roaming soul, if indeed he ever awakened from the coma he was currently residing in.

Blood pounded in Trinity's ears, her entire world focusing down on 3 people, herself and her two attackers. They wanted to hill her, but they also wanted revenge for her for the incident in the carpark, and the fact that she had escaped them on the freeway. Yes, they wanted her blood, and somehow she knew they were not going to be polite or gentle about getting it. She mentally prepared herself for what she knew was about to happen, knowing she would be tormented and tortured until her mind accepted the fact that death was inevitable and died, leaving her body in the Real World to follow shortly behind, and without Neo there to save her, to help her pull through, she would indeed die, cease to exist, to be no more. Yet somehow, that might be better than what about to happen. 

In a flurry of motion and her sense of urgency in overdrive she took advantage of the momentary lull. They were too confident, too sure of themselves, she would use that to her advantage. She struck out to the right of the first twin, making him overreach for the feinted blow and slightly overbalance, the kick a precise second after the strike leveled the greyish-white being, dropped to the ground with a rather muffled 'oaff' as his backside collided to the asphalt. She didn't count on the second twin rushing her from behind, grabbing her arms and pinning them to her side, making her arms useless and the front of her body completely vulnerable. Well maybe not completely. The other came at her again, having dusted himself off from his unceremonious connecting with the concrete, and attempted to bring in several punches to her exposed midsection, earning him a boot in the face for his efforts. Trinity thanked her lucky stars for her flexibility as she dropped her weight suddenly, kicking high above her head and hearing the bone crushing impact of her boot breaking the Twins nose. She was loose again, but for how long? Her captured seemed only injured for mere moments before 'banffing' and returning to normal. Yet how long would she last? Her chest ached from the vice like grip when her arms had been pinned, and she was sure she had pulled something when she kicked over her head. Sensing her opportunity she ran, ran like she had never before, she was running for her life. Her mind was whirling faster than her feet were moving, she was focused on escape, an escape, preferably an exit, but she knew she couldn't be THAT lucky. She darted up sidestreets, run into buildings, and double crossed her tracks trying to loose them, she had to escape, she could not die here. 

A Twin reappeared in front of her, seemingly tireless, unmoved by her frantic attempts at escape. 

" We are growing tired of this" 

" Indeed we are, we must incapacitate her" 

' Great!' she mused, incapacitate, then what? Torture, dismemberment, agony? Their monotone voices reinforced the fact in her mind that they were machines, unfeeling, and unkillable. Her eyes darted around, desperately seeking an opportunity, an opening, anything. She kept moving, unwilling to be taken down that easily, if she was going to go down, she would give them a fight that would remember.

For a short time she held her own, kicking, punching, and worming her way out of their grips, forcing them back a few paces where possible, but the stand-off was a brief one. The Twins started working together, combining their attacks to bring Trinity down as quickly as possible. The sooner they had her, the less likely they were to be discovered by her crewmates in the Real World. 

She was tiring rapidly, her breathing becoming ragged as her muscles began to burn with overexertion. Sweat beaded on her forehead, soaking her hair and dripping down into her eyes. She swiped angrily at the offending moisture, and it became her undoing. As her hand reached her face a boot into the back of her knee sent her driving forwards, meeting the hard concrete face first with only her hand to protect her head from the impact. She heard the bones in her wrist give way and shatter under the enormous force, and she screamed, trying desperately to turn the fall into a roll, to at least gain the offensive. But how could she defend herself with her hand a useless mass of broken bones and flesh. The Twins heard the scream and knew that they had won, there was no way she would be running now. She someone managed to get once again to her feet, something that almost shocked the Twins, for they had not expected her to rise after such a forceful fall. Her injured hand was cradled protectively against her chest, allowing her the use of both legs and her other arm. Yet all parties knew this was a one sided fight. 

" We admire your courage, but do you not realise that it is worthless"

' So now I have courage' she thought to herself, well at least she was giving them a run for their money. One lunged at her again, aiming to grab her arms again and she sidestepped, moving at the last minute to the side and using the Twins' own momentum against him, he only managed to grab one arm, but alas it was her broken one. Try as she might she could not suppress the groan of agony, or the waves of white-hot pain that coursed through her body. The skin around the break was cut open by the force, the milky whiteness of her bones glistening through the deepening red around the wound. She stared in awe for a moment, a look of pure shock crossing her face before consciousness decided to leave her at the most in-opportune moment.

The Twins watched as their captive finally slumped to the ground, her skin around her injury splitting even more as the limb was bent against its natural lie underneath her limp body. One of the Twins stepped casually over to the fallen woman, pressing his fingers roughly against the side of her throat to check if she had actually died. A strong thrum beneath his fingertips told him she was still live, and in no immediate danger of dying just yet.

" She must be moved, we risk discovery if we stay here"

" The vehicle is approaching, we shall move her to the usual location " 

A dark car screeched to a stop in front of them and they carelessly shoved the unconscious Trinity into the boot, making sure to lock it before climbing into the cabin themselves. It would be a short drive to their current premises, but they did not want her to try escaping so close to getting that which mattered most to them. 

Her mind refused to focus, refused adamantly to function properly and absolutely refused to open her eyes. She strained the senses she did have, taking an inventory of her position and her injuries and filing the information in a somewhat less sluggish area of her brain. She was standing, albeit not under her own support, she was tied to what seemed like a broad steal pillar, her hands numb behind her back and her wrists burning from both the broken bone and the biting of the steel wire they had used to bind her with. Thin steal cables snaked their way securely around her body, pinning her torso and legs to the metal behind her, forcing her body to remain upright even in unconsciousness. Her neck ached from support the limp weight of her head and she slowly righted, bleary eyes cracking open under layers of dried sweat and grime. She glanced around the room, taking in every detail and forcing her mind to co-operate in storing the information until she could use it. The room was somewhat bare, although it was very large. It appeared to be some kind of long abandoned power facility, large turbines filling a far corner and large holes erupting from the floor at regular interval, showing the resting places of large equipment at one time.

Then she found her tormentors, casually leaning again the pillar next to hers, idly seeing how long it would take before she returned to full consciousness, only then they could start on the next phase of their plans. 

" I believe she is fully conscious. We should begin"

" Yes we should"

Their monotone voices were really started to irk her and she suppressed the urge to shudder as they came closer, one carelessly tracing his finger down the line of his jaw. She grabbed the opportunity to snap at his finger, catching the tip of it between her teeth and tasting the metallic blood on her tongue.

" Quite beautiful really, although not for long. Quite feisty too."

" It is almost a shame, we are sure Neo will be quite looking forward to her safe return"

" We shall greatly enjoy this"

" Indeed we shall"

They approached her again, this time careful of her teeth and each produced a small dagger. Without warning the dagger was driven into her left thigh, causing Trinity to scream with anguish and the Twin to smirk approvingly.

" That is for the arm incident"

As soon as her eyes unclouded the other Twin drove his dagger into her other thigh, effectively ending any hope she had of walking out of the building under her own power.

" And that was for the finger a moment ago"

" Any questions?" 

The smug monotone irritated her beyond belief, even beyond the agony that was emanating from her legs. They had left the daggers there, causing her even more pain as the muscles twitched in response to the abuse. She sucked in her breath and tried to calm her rampant thoughts. She would have to think clearly to survive this one.

" Why?" She found herself asking, almost sounding surprised as her hollow pain-filled voice echoed around the empty space.

" Why my dear, to teach that lovely crew of yours the nature of respect. You see they seem to underestimate us, and this shall be a small lesson in humility. If we can break you, we can most assuredly break them as well." 

It was one of her greatest fears, to be a hindrance to her crew, to put their lives in jeopardy through her own doing, yet she was doing that now, by simply living. They would try and rescue her, put their lives on the line to bring her out. Yet what would they find? A battered broken shell of her former self, and what good would she be then?

" Why not just kill me then?" she asked, fear and pain very evident in her voice. She knew she would not be getting out of this one alive, why prolong the agony. If they wanted to kill her, why the hell couldn't they just get it over with?

" My dear, We believe you are missing the point here. Killing you will not demoralise your crew. They will mourn, then get on with their mission with more determination. No, your outcome of this day will not be death, although you may wish it that way"

The dawning of realisation hit her, making her gasp at their intentions. They would torture her to the brink of death then allow her crew to find her. It would demoralise them, hurt them, break them. 

They started with her feet, using a large hammer to break one toe at a time, giving her time to scream, draw a few ragged breaths, the scream again as the next one fell victim. They used the same hammer on the small bones of her feet, snapping each of the delicate bones under the impact of the blunt object. She was nearly beside herself with pain, her screams echoing around the room and sweat sheeting off her body. Her vision blurred and swayed, causing bile to rise in her throat and threaten to cut off her breathing. She forced it down, drawing in large amounts of air in order to keep from passing out. But then again, would that not be the better option? She allowed her breathing to slow, forcing her mind to haze over and her conscious thoughts slip away like the wind. Her eyes glazed over and her head started to drop, causing one of the Twin to pause in him ministrations and look closely at her features.

" Now now, that would not at all be acceptable" he muttered, walking swiftly over to a suitcase and returning a moment later, a drug-laden syringe in his hand. He carefully injected the fluid into the vein at her elbow, watching her eyes to gaze the reaction her body would have to the stimulant. Her eyes slowly cleared, pain etched deep within their depths, but she was alert again, although she very much wished she wasn't. They broke the bones in her legs, smashed both her kneecaps before wielding a rather long thin steal girder at her midsection. Through the haze of drugs and pain she felt the bones of her hips and pelvis give way, internal organs pushed far too much out of alignment as her body absorbed the impact. She felt the darkness invading again, pushing against the artificial light of the drugs and overwhelming her, her mind finally finding relief in the blessed realm of unconsciousness.

" We believe that is enough to achieve our goals. Much more could kill her too soon. We must leave quickly"

" Indeed we must" A moment later they were gone, leaving only a battered and broken woman to show that they had been there at all.

" I've got her location, the building looks clear"

" I'm going in, we've got to get her out quickly"

" Link, keep her alive until I get back"

" I will Sir"

A dark man clad in a long leather jacket appeared near the building moments later, striding quickly along the dark street until he found the entrance. He cautiously stepped through the threshold, aware that this could very likely be a trap. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and he continued, making his steps as light as possible to reduce noise. Then he spotted her, bound against a support pillar, her head resting limply against her chest, her lower body a mangled mess of leather, flesh, blood and bone. He moved quickly to her side, carefully unbinding her and laying her on the floor. She was blessedly unconscious, blissfully unaware at the horrible injuries her body had inflicted, but her breathing was shallow and her pulse thready. She was dying. Disregarding all thoughts for his own safety Morpheus reached for his cell phone, and called for the nearest exit. There was one in the next street and he gingerly gathered his First Officer into his arms, unknowing how to carry her without further aggravating her injuries. The trip to the public phone was a short one, and he gently held the receiver to her ear, watching as her body vanished before repeating the procedure on himself. 

" How is she?"

" Not well Sir, we're moving her own to the Infirmary"

The Infirmary was a flurry of activity, everyone was down there, handing over equipment as they fought to save the woman they loved. Deep inside they all knew it was a loosing battle, whoever had done this to Trinity had done it for a reason, and now she was dying because of it. How long Morpheus stood in the doorway he would not know, he seemed unwilling to enter, unwilling to aid in the already desperate attempt to save her life. There was nothing they could do and he knew it. A weak voice interrupted his morbid thoughts.

" Morpheus......" her weak voice rang in the enclosed space, no-one had expected her to be conscious in her condition, she shouldn't even be awake, let along speaking.

" Who did this to you Trinity?" he asked softly, her voice causing him to push his way through the small throng of people.

" Twins..... wanted....break...you " She took a deep painfilled breath, her eyes going wide as her chest rose then fell for the final time. Time seemed to stand still for Morpheus as the woman in front of him died, not the peaceful death he had always envisioned for her, dying in her sleep as an old woman with family by her side, but rather in agony and frightened. Her eyes were still open, still filled with pain and fear but forever unseeing as her pupils fixed and dilated to twice their normal size, her limp hand was still cradled in his own, but he could already feel the life draining from it, the warmth that signified life slowly ebbing with the passing of time.

" Morpheus, she's gone" a soft voice from behind him caused him to startled. He angrily swiped at the tears coursing down his cheeks and finally relinquished his hold on her. Link gently closed her eyes for the last time, tears streaming down his own face as they gazed at the body of their friend and comrade. If the Twins had done this to break their spirit, then they had won this battle, and perhaps the war. 

End


End file.
